Rainy Day Monday

It's raining (again) roundabout Exit 151 and to top things off I've caught a bug that sometimes causes severe intestinal upset but mostly inflicts extreme lethargy. I was eating woecake, then this sprightly project bag from Sally arrived with today's mail. Lookit:



The bag is one of several Sock Madness Round 1 prizes awarded to slow but persevering knitters (moi!). The light today is too poor to show this, but the whimsical embroidery panel is adorned with a tonal print that adds a subtle extra bounce to the whole. I love it! Thank you, Sally, and thanks to the SM4 mods for the encouragement.

Meanwhile, the coffee-themed Round 2 sock progresses: I've reached the heel flap. I'm enjoying the pattern, Cool Beans.



Initially, I decided to work a contrast cuff, heel, and toe because I have a good amount of the MC yarn but Not Enough of the CC yarn. It suddenly (!) occurs to me that I may have a problem. The heel stripe continues through the heel turn onto the sole and toe of the sock. I'd prefer to keep the beans in their established color and the stripes in their established colors... which can be done, but perhaps doing so would comprise too great a modification to the pattern and so constitute a DQ. Off to consult the mods about mods.

Earth Hour 2010

This Earth Hour I knit a bit on the Sock Madness Round 2 pattern, Cool Beans by Heatherly Walker. Here's what it looked like by flashlight.



I'm enjoying this pattern, but note to self for next year's Earth Hour: No colorwork!

Meanwhile, there's a new prize-winning documentary, Gasland by Josh Fox, on the environmental consequences of the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in natural gas extraction. I hope to have the chance to see it soon. Here's an excerpt:

CAN YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR TAP WATER? from JOSHFOX on Vimeo.

Of concern, there are plans afoot to use fracking in the watershed for New York City, among other populated areas. That adds immediate meaning to the small gesture of unplugging from the grid for a spring hour.

Sideways

Roundabout Exit 151 storm recovery is nearing completion: electricity is ON, phones are ON, Internet is ON. MEGA-LAUNDRY and MEGA-IRONING are done. Fallen branches have been chopped and neatly bundled. And while I was offline, the paperwhites came along nicely. Here they are in their glory (gentle readers will have to imagine their heady perfume). Alas, they've since succumbed to a common ailment, flop over. Ah well, it happens.

During the power outage I worked on the Sock Madness 4 Round 1 sock, Simple Side to Side Socks by Deborah Swift. The well-written pattern was easy to follow. Which was good, as most knitting happened by candlelight. The pair squeaked in just before the midnight deadline at 11:40 PDT – 10:40 p.m. AKDT or cough 2:40 a.m. EDT. But squeak in they did; I advance to Round 2.



The unusual flat and sideways construction of the socks means they have more stretch vertically than horizontally, the reverse of conventional sock constructions. There's lots of grafting – the long seam, afterthought heel, and toe – and lots of 4-into-3 picking up and knitting. Finishing the socks feels very like finishing a sweater.



Alas and no surprise, between the reduced lateral stretch and the lack of a heel gusset, it's a bit of a struggle to get the socks on my Frankenfeet. Once on, they tend to slouch. I'm aware of the picked up and knit ridges at the cuff, heel, and toe – they don't fidget me, but they are prominent enough that I think they would bother people with sensitive feet or a lot of friction in their shoes. Pity – the tight heel fit could be an asset for athletic wear, but the blister potential seems too high.



Overall, I'm happy with these sideways socks, my first. The designer has listed many variations to address various fit issues. If I were to make another pair, I'd use a stitch pattern with plenty of vertical stretch, such as Old Shale, and add a heel gusset. But now that Sock Madness is underway, a second pair will have to wait a while – Round 2 starts Friday!

Day Five

The interminable wind- and rainstorm that roared through the U.S. Northeast last weekend caused what is turning into an equally (if not more) interminable power outage roundabout Exit 151. It's Day Five without electricity, phone, or Internet. Time for something pretty:



My favorite souvenir from the Philadelphia Flower Show, at least until the seeds I bought start growing.

Sweetness and Bike

This time of year I crave pinky-orange things in the worst way. When my supermarket started carrying new to me Cara Cara Navel oranges, or pink oranges, of course I had to try them.



Pink oranges are incredibly good: exceptionally sweet and juicy, low acid, with a delicious berry-citrus flavor. The taste is similar to a Moro blood orange, except much sweeter and without the acid. The flesh is superior, very like a classic Navel orange; the peel is more brittle and does not come off quite as easily. (I suppose I should have put a regular Navel and a Moro in the picture for contrast, but they all got eaten, sorry.) Chilling improves flavor!

Then there's the pinky-orange sweetness of Split-Toe Sweethearts by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts (in Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn). Perfect for a pajama day, if that's your pleasure.



I loved knitting these socks, from their tabi toes to their intarsia in the round cuffs. Here's an inside view, to show that it's true intarsia, not stranding.



There were a few pattern modifications: I worked a smaller tabi toe and added the gusset from Stashbuster Spirals to the ankle to suit my Frankenfeet. And in a lapse of attention, I knit a shorter cuff than specified. Ah well.

The tabi toe is surprisingly comfortable – I'm aware of it, but it doesn't fidget my toe cleavage as I thought it might. However, I'm a bit bothered by the limp, rayon-y Tencel sheen of the MC yarn, Yarn Botanika Radiance. I received it as part of a very generous contest prize and I do love its pinky-orange colors. Suffice to say it's not entirely to my taste, and yours may differ.

Last but not least, this morning Google announced that Google Maps will offer the long-awaited bicycling option, currently in beta.

Or view here

The bicycling option is decidedly a work in progress and should be used with as much or more caution as any Internet directions. That said, I must say I find this development very sweet indeed.